Noisy Silences and Silent Noises
by 13Nerds-United13
Summary: Pandora isn't a place for the faint hearted. Gaige prepares herself for what's to come or maybe she should just prepare to be skag food. Most of the citizens wouldn't mind. It keeps them off their backs until their hungry again. So, what's it gonna be? Is she gonna die quick or live long? Maybe he could keep her alive? (A few small stories mainly centered around Zer0xGaige.)
1. Words Should be Spoken

**Hello~ Just a few quick notes before you read this;**

**Might add a few M rated chapters here and there. Don't worry, I'll warn you at the top.**

**This is just going to be a few short stories, somehow connected but not really.**

**If you see any grammar/spelling mistakes that aren't obviously intentional, please tell me. :3**

**Please enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Borderlands or Borderlands 2. All rights belong to all the wonderful people who had it in their minds to create these wonderful games.**

* * *

><p><em>Silence can be bestPeaceful or unsettling/Words are not traded._

_..._

The silence was starting to eat at her, plaguing her and daring her to open her mouth and say something, anything.

Gaige tapped her feet on the ground, eyes on the wall opposite to her though she couldn't help but glance at the four others that were in the train car with her every once in a while. A beautiful blue haired girl siren-like in appearance, be it fake or not, sat to her right a few feet. Her hair was cut in a short bob, a translucent blue that matched her steely eyes.

She bore blue tattoos and that was about all Gaige knew of sirens other than the obvious power to "kill people with their brains" power that the group of girls was legendary for having. Since they hadn't been in a battle together before, Gaige couldn't know if she had those or not. She was almost ghostly pale, lips painted blue with what Gaige assumed was lipstick and an unnatural, alien beauty that Gaige wished she herself held. She blamed it on still growing, but she knew in reality she would never be that beautiful. She felt a bit deflated at the thought, but ignored it.

The girl wore a yellow, grey, and black single sleeved leotard that went down to a glove, covering her right hand. Her other arm was revealed, showing off her tattoos. Over the leotard, she wore a pair of blue and grey pants held up by a lopsided belt that seemed to barely cling to her hips and stay up. Her shoes were yellow, grey, and black, matching her leotard.

Gaige clenched her mechanical arm's hand, eyes trailing to her next riding companion that sat across from her, a little to the right. He also had dark blue hair, but that was where there the resemblance between the two started and ended. Obviously, he was a guy. He was way shorter and a lot tanner. He had tattoos too, but they were more man made looking than that of the siren's.

His hair was in an almost Mohawk, connecting to a beard on his chin with sideburns. His shirt was ratty and torn, an orange one that slightly concealed the white shirt he wore beneath it. He had suspender like straps on his shoulders that held ammo for the guns he held on his back. His eyes were brown and he had a bandage over his nose, making Gaige wonder if he had broken it. His ears were also pierced asymmetrically.

He was a big burly man, though his shortness made it slightly comical in a way. He wore boots with spurs and a pair of blue jeans held up by a belt with a skull and cross bones on it. As much as Gaige wanted to feel intimidated, she didn't really. Sure, he was a lot bigger than her and one of his biceps was probably bigger than her head, but she wasn't too terribly frightened of him.

The next was, put simply, a soldier. He sat to the left of Gaige a few feet. His brown hair was cut in a military-like, a little longer than how the military issued haircuts. He had an arrow shaped, metal thing over his left eyebrow. He wore a collection of brown and tan clothing with a jacket that's zipper was more to the left than centered. A huge strap slid across his chest, blocking partial view of the zipper.

An ear piece was in his ear and a pair of dog tags along with a ring was hanging from a chin at his neck. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, one shoulder bearing a Dahl Corporation logo. His almost puke green cargo pants were held up with a black belt His shoes were different from one another, one being black and yellow striped armor plating with a steel heel and the other simply being regular colored steel armor plated.

He had a handsome face, but his blue eyes revealed to you that he had seen some shit, a five o'clock shadow covering his cheeks. On his shoulder was a weird mechanical device Gaige felt a small curious pang about, but otherwise she ignored it.

The next person looked like someone that Gaige didn't want to mess with. He sat to the left of the short man, ominous in his seat and tense like a predator preparing to pounce on prey. Like a wild cat locked in a cage, he looked slim and graceful, but dark and dangerous.

He was really skinny and actually a lot taller than her, clad in a black suit with white and grey armor attachments. His entire head was covered in a helmet, face shrouded with a pitch black visor. The only color that covered his body was the red zero that was over his heart on his chest. He had a black belt that he didn't appear to need since he was in a jumpsuit, but it was practical in the fact that it carried a small sheath like thing that looked like it was holding the handle of a katana.

He looked like a literal badass ninja. The strange thing was that he had four fingers on each hand. As if feeling her stare, his head turned toward her and he seemed to meet her gaze beneath his helmet. What scared her was the sudden appearance of a red question mark that appeared as a hologram in front of his helmet.

Gaige immediately looked away, the ever growing awkwardness in the train car stifling. Gaige desperately wanted to speak, to get something out to break the terrible silence, but she remained quiet, mouth closed and eyes down.

All of them were lethal, able to kill- all except for the one person on there that had only killed because of a simple miss calibration on her robot. That person was Gaige herself, a simple Dahl pistol strapped to her thigh. She could barely even use the damn thing, let alone kill anything.

She remained quiet until the robots attacked… Until the explosions happened and until she woke up on a frozen glacier with the rest of them, freezing her nonexistent balls off.

_..._

_Silence was a waste/Unsettling, it appeared/Words should be spoken._


	2. Burden? Maybe so

**Hello~ Just a few quick notes before you read this;**

**If you see any grammar/spelling mistakes that aren't obviously intentional, please tell me. :3**

**Please enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Borderlands or Borderlands 2. All rights belong to all the wonderful people who had it in their minds to create these wonderful games.**

* * *

><p><em>You were a burdenImprecise and unfocused/Childlike and daft._

_..._

Zer0 gave an irritated sigh, lips pulling down into a frown that didn't really express his emotions very well, considering he was still wearing his helmet. Gaige let out a similar sigh, but one mainly from frustration. "Precision is key/Focus is prevalent/I want criticals." He almost hisses, forcing himself to try and be as calm as possible. Why had he been dumped with this job?

"I know okay? You've said that at least fifty times." Gaige cries out in anger, turning to glare at Zer0 to which a bright red ':(' popped up, showing he wasn't happy with her either. She slammed her head down on the counter in anger, lowering her handgun with a small pout decorating her lips. The scowl didn't suit her. Zer0 had known her for maybe a week and he knew she wasn't usually a frown-y person.

Zer0 glanced at the struggling man strapped to the table maybe fifteen, twenty feet from them. It couldn't be any easier to shoot the man. Zer0 could probably do it with his eyes closed and without taking a moment to aim. If he knew she would take so long to get it, he wouldn't have done this, damn it. Marcus had grown attached to Gaige recently, convincing Zer0 to teach her to shoot by offering thirty percent off on all sniper rifles Zer0 bought as long as Gaige learned to protect herself. Were the savings worth it? "Raise your gun again/Push away all other thoughts/We'll be here all night."

Gaige sent him another nasty glare that more like she was a kicked puppy than an actual threat to the assassin. He simply gestured for her to do as told and she followed his directions with a few grumbled words. Expecting not to actually hit the constricted man, her shoulders were slumped, eyes drawn to other areas, weight leaning on only one foot, and gun aimed more toward the ground than toward the actual intended target.

What she hadn't expected was for Zer0 to step into her personal space, arms encircling her and four fingered hands wrapping around her own to try and get her to hold it correctly. Her body tensed, eyes snapping wider than dinner plates and jaw dropping slightly. She almost yanked herself away, but she was too shocked to even gather the strength to push away from him. He felt strangely cold but warm at the same time, chest pressed to her back and head resting on her shoulder. She wasn't used to being this close to a guy. She struggled to reign in her teenage girl feelings, trying not to think of how his abs probably looked under that armor. Damn! She could feel her face burn more, imagination going to a darker place.

Considering her short stature compared to him, he had to hunch down slightly. "Focus." He whispers, hands sliding from her arms to her shoulders to fix them then to her waist to make her even out her weight. "Deep breath." He murmurs, still whispering in her ear quietly and in such a deep, gravelly voice that it sent warm shivers down the length of Gaige's spine. "Aim." He breaths out and Gaige could have sworn that was the sexiest voice she had ever heard.

How the hell did he think she was going to be able to focus with his chest pressed against her back? Her face was ruby red, mouth going dry at his touch, she could feel her heart beating faster than she expected it to ever, _ever_ beat. She tries to aim, feeling his arms against hers again and seeing his gloved hands wrap around hers to help her aim once again. She had to remind herself to breath, mind containing too many spastic thoughts to really remember that she needed oxygen to survive.

"Fire." He finally says and she pulls the trigger, barely registering it flying through the air and landing in the constricted man's skin with a loud and gruesome "thunk!" before passing through his chest cavity and landing into the table like thing he was stuck to. Not a moment later, Zer0 slipped away from her and finally allowed her to catch her thoughts. "Still not in the head/Better, but not quite there yet/Try a little more." He grunts, crossing his arms over his chest and Gaige's mind couldn't help but notice the nice way his biceps flexed when she looked over at him.

All things said, she admired it for a minute before she looked away again, trying not to stare. Her breath caught in her throat, turning back to the man attached to the table. A long, awkward silence followed, him waiting for her to try again and her trying not to look at him. A loud rumble echoed over the struggling of the target, echoing from Gaige's stomach. Her flush grew brighter and a question mark appeared on Zer0's mask as he watched her turn around. He found the light red on her cheeks slightly… adorable.

"Can we go get something to eat and do this later?" Gaige questions and Zer0 stays quiet for a while, examining her. He was hungry as well, but he wanted her to get a headshot before they left. He turned toward the man attached to the table, contemplating what to do for what felt like an eternity to Gaige. The silence was once again interrupted by a rumble from Gaige's stomach.

He chuckled lowly, barely audible to Gaige herself and somehow almost as delicious as him whispering in her ear. "A shot to the head/Swift and decisive yet calm/Accomplish this, girl." He directs, telling her he wasn't letting her go until she shot the strangely pale man before her in the head.

"Do you ever speak in anything other than haiku?" She sighs, frown tearing into her lips before she tried to focus once again on the man. Zer0 only revealed a ':D' on his helmet that she wasn't looking at him to view.

In earnest, they were there for another two hours before they got to eat.

…

_Teasing and helpful__/Focus is not obtained soon/__Burden? Maybe so__._


	3. You Distracted Me

_Just five seven five/Keep up with the syllables/Its not very hard._

_..._

Moxxi chuckled quietly to herself, watching Gaige and Zer0 go back and forth, Axton, Salvador, and Maya having given up on breaking them up and simply letting them continue. Krieg had simply left to wander around, yelling something about a meat bicycle. It was amusing how they wouldn't stop. Truthfully, Moxxi thinks they should just sink their claws into each other finally. Sure, they hadn't known each other for very long, but that shouldn't stop them.

"How's it... possible?/This is too damn hard to do./Haikus are stupid." Gaige says uncertainly, counting the syllables on her fingers as she spoke and having to pause every few minutes to think of something to say. She had decided to have a haiku-off with the master assassin and haiku king or Pandora. The odds were against her but she sure as hell wasn't giving up.

"They are not stupid/Maybe you are the problem/Could your brain be small?" Zer0 berates the Mechromancer, voice cruel and unyielding as he spoke without missing a beat. He had his arms crossed over his chest and he was leaning back in his chair, head tilted toward the ceiling as he awaited what Gaige was to come up with next. His words held an amused undertone, finding some sort of weird pleasure from watching Gaige squirm. He was up for a challenge, whether it be actually challenging or not.

"My brain is not small/I'm probably smarter than you/What's your IQ? Four?" Gaige all but shouts in anger at the assassin, lips pulled down in a furious frown. How dare he insult her intelligence?! She glared at him, dark look hidden in her eyes.

"My IQ is high/You are acting childish Gaige/Why don't you give up?" Zer0 answered, watching as Moxxi carried over two glasses of what he assumed was water, but he wasn't completely sure. Moxxi sent them both a wink as she set the glasses down in front of them, not bothering to speak before she went back to her position at the bar.

Zer0 lifted the glass and stared down at it for a few seconds. Sure, he was thirsty, but he didn't want to drink alcohol if that was in fact what it was. He slid his visor so it only covered his eyes, revealing his mouth and lips. He sniffed at the liquid, determining it was actually water before he took a sip of it.

Gaige watched him in shock, having never seen any of his actual face, let alone his lips or his nose. So, that determined he was human-ish. No blue skin, no scales, nada. She examined what little he allowed to be revealed, surprised he even showed that much. His lips were thin, but full in a way that suited him and in a way that you'd imagine him to have.

Once he had taken a drink, he licked his lips to clear any excess liquid. "Dude, I have a chance/I'm not going to give up/You probably should." She replies, pausing a little more between words as she became distracted by the way his tongue ran over his lips. Damn. She thought his _voice_ was sexy. Turns out he was unintentionally so.

Zer0 snorted sarcastically. "Chance? You have zero/Mine is over nine thousand/Trust me, I made sure." Zer0 once again says without missing a beat, having no trouble keeping up with the small girl's poor attempts at beating him in this little "match" if you could call it that.

Gaige silently observed him, taking a drink of her own water to try and by her some time to think and examine his features further without just blatantly staring at him. She placed her cup back down, licking her own lips as well. She didn't realize that he was watching her every movement like it was his own personal show. "Cool story Zer0/You gonna tell it again?/Nice DBZ quote too." She chuckles, not really that surprised that Zer0 knew about Dragon Ball Z considering he had made so many nerdy jokes on the battle field. Trap card, seriously? It was obvious where that was from.

In the middle of drinking his water, a smirk coiled on Zer0's lips behind the rim of the glass. He put the glass down and Gaige was immediately mesmerized by the sight of his upturned lips, eyes returning to stare at his handsome and somewhat scarred features. He held up six of his fingers, shining a slight grin showing teeth to show pride. "It looks like I win/Five seven six and you lose/Better luck next time." Zer0 says victoriously, standing gracefully from his seat. He downs the rest of his water, taking only a few gulps.

Gaige would have cursed from the loss had the view from Zer0's smile not been so damn hot for some reason. Placing the glass back on the table, Zer0 turned back to Gaige and leaned down so they were only about half a foot apart and so they were level with each other. Gaige's breath caught in her throat and her eyes stared into the inky blackness of the visor that covered his eyes, eyes glancing down at his lips from time to time.

"You should stop staring/It is really obvious/Bye mechromancer." He pushed his visor back down over his lips, turning toward the exit and walking away... Gaige totally wasn't staring at his nicely shaped ass as he walked away... Okay, she definitely was and she wasn't going to deny it. She often talked with most of the other females about it though some were a little flustered to talk about it... Mainly Maya. Plus, she was more into the psyche Krieg. Which was a bit weird to Gaige, but who was she to say anything? She had a crush on a haiku talking assassin nerd.

...

_You distracted me/All syllables forgotten/It was difficult._


End file.
